At the 19th Australian Symposium of Gastronomy held in Newcastle 5 – 8 April 2013 it was decided that the next Symposium would be held in conjunction with the New Zealand Food History Society at a venue in Wellington, and so we were all called to attend the 20th Symposium 29 November – 1 December 2014, and my sister Lenore and I registered and went, continuing own November food focus.New Zealand did a great job with a theme of “FERMENT”, which gave a wide scope for the presentation of papers and the theme for the Symposia dinner.Papers presented over two days explored everything from bread through, wine, tempeh, cider, kombucha, cookery books and food writing to food waste. These will be published as an issue of the Aristologist which is the mouthpiece of the Food History Society. It is published once or twice each year and contains papers from the Society’s Symposia, as well as new research material and historical recipes. ( It can be obtained by emailing: duncan.galletly@live.com ).One of the interesting papers or really a demonstration was by Kelda Haines from Nikau Cafe called “Fermentation – Flavour, Fear and Fashion” during which Kelda demonstrated making sauerkraut, which is really simple: Sauerkraut - 2 grams of salt to 1 Kg of sliced cabbage rub the salt in and knead / press down till the juices run. Let it ferment (the cabbage should be submerged under the liquid – use a weight if necessary). Adding aromatics and flavour , such as chilli, fennel, dill, carraway, will help reduce any mould developing, but if it does grow just scrape it off.Next Symposia are scheduled for:The New Zealand Food History Symposium - November 2015 in Wellington NZ21st Australian Symposium of Gastronomy – March 2016 in Melbourne VicFood at the Symposia and After:

The symposia was held at PreFab Hall and breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea were catered for by the associated PreFab Cafe. ( http://www.pre-fab.co.nz/ ). If you visit Wellington, book yourself in for breakfast or lunch – I will not concentrate on the seasonal ingredients etc - go for the donuts with jam and cream; these people have resurrected the donuts’ reputation.

The dinner was held at Nikau Cafe ( http://nikaucafe.co.nz/ ), starting with elderflower kombucha and gin cocktails we then launched into a series of courses from the menu list of :Zucchini , Rabbit , Butter , Mussels , Kingfish , Lamb & Artichokes, Goats Cheese, Rhubarb & Strawberries. The beverages ranged from the Kombucha through cider to Reisling, Gamay and Pinot.

Scopa in Cuba Street ( http://www.scopa.co.nz/ ) for breakfast of poached eggs with lemon ricotta, avocado and peas. Duke Carvell’s Swan Lane Emporium ( http://dukecarvell.co.nz/ ) for Braised peas and Faro.The Beijing Restaurant in Newtown (a suburb of Wellington NZ) was a disappointment, the food was reasonable but after eating at contemporary Chinese in Sydney, Melbourne and Hong Kong, the food here seemed to be referencing back to the 1960’s / 1970’s and Gweilo Chinese food.